Three little piggies…

I have the reputation for coming home with various animals from the auction – luckily this was a planned purchase. I heard there was going to be a bunch of weaner pigs at the auction yesterday and I went to see what kind of deal we could get on them. As it turned out, there were 35 weaner pigs and the price was very reasonable. The plan was to get two, but I got caught up in the moment and bought three instead – auctions can do that to you 😉

We raised pigs a couple years ago and still have the pen set-up. Our property has several large concrete pads that are leftover from the chicken barns. They make a great foundation for a pig pen.

We used hog panels for the fencing and leftover roofing material to make a 3 sided shelter. I would love to give them access to the pasture, but pigs are very good at rooting around and can pick up field fencing and go under very well (been there, done that). An easy solution to this problem is to put a strand of electric at the bottom of the fence, but this pasture is too large. So, they are having fun rooting around in the leftover wood chips and eating veggies from the garden.

Their first order of business was digging this bed for the three of them to sleep in.

My first order of business was training them where to go to the bathroom. Pigs are very clean and prefer to go to the bathroom in one spot. Unfortunately, they chose a spot under the shelter and I would prefer they use this corner. So, I am moving their waste to this corner until they have it figured out. It makes cleaning the pen a snap. One shovel load out of the corner in the morning and night is all it takes.

I love the different colors. We have a red/white girl,

a black/white boy,

and my favorite – a pink boy with gray spots around his eyes.

Pigs are amazing animals – they are smart, cute, clean, and very efficient at turning food into meat.

I second that Shannon… especially with pork. We don’t eat pork but I can sure appreciate home grown way above store bought, especially with pigs. They certainly don’t lead very good lives and are usually fed badly. I bet home grown pork is actually tasty too! 🙂 I like your red/white girl, she’s so pretty!

They are adorable at this stage but I bet when they are large you will be ready to put fresh homegrown pork in your freezer. There is a DVD called Food INC. that I watched recently that was very eye opening about what our purchased food supply is really like and not what they want us to believe.